Saturday, June 4, 2016

Logic then and now...sans magic

Reading the play "Votes for Women" by Elizabeth Kobing, about man-woman status in the late nineteenth and  the early part of the 20th century. This play opened in April 1907.
Women got the right to vote in a few years after that. The play talks less about demonstrations and jail time by women who fought for this right, and more about the attitude men and women had for this issue in particular and for social development on the whole.

Many rights have been gained by women. More and more women are 'allowed to study' (not me, I wasn't), 'allowed to work' (i fought hard and long, and was finally allowed), and of course, allowed to buy as many expensive clothes and finery as they could afford to.
Why do my eyes well up with tears? I am someone who moves on, and rarely looks backwards. I am free and independent today, but still all around me, the attitude of men and women towards women's status has not changed. Condescending, acting shocked at anything they don't approve of, staring in a gossipy way at women who walk past...men and women still behave this way.
I just remind myself of some women in corporate today. They know what they want and what they have. They speak without self consciousness. They are focussed, busy, quick in thought and speech, not bothered about their looks and full of energy. May their tribe increase!

2 comments:

Harini Padmanabhan said...

Their tribe will continue to increase, but I often feel that women are the ones pulling themselves down. Partly because they lack the confidence and partly because its easier to not challenge conventions.

Raji said...

yes, and the kind you describe disgust me; they always did.